The Devil's Backbone (A Niki Slobodian Novel: Book Five) (13 page)

I needed to find Gage and leave this place. I felt no need to see the people I loved who slept here. I’d already seen them, and something about the memory of the dream made me calm. Walking over to the sleeping form nearest to me, I tried to touch the man’s soul who lay there. My finger went through him. He did little more than shudder, though his whispers became louder, more plaintive.
 

I would know how to call them when the time was right, Eli had said.
You’ll know how to hurt in just the right way.
The thought wasn’t pleasant, but I had to trust my intuition that it was the truth. I had to stop running from things that caused me pain. It was time to face my fears. It was time to find the Grace.
 

It was time to bring Lucifer home.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

I looked down at Eli’s body. It looked like shredded meat at the throat. There was no sign of the gigantic wolf that had attacked him. I looked at Gage who stood shakily beside me. It wasn't safe for him here. What happened to Eli could have happened to him.
 

“I'm sorry, Bobby,” I said.

“For what?” he said.

I touched his forehead gently and the big man went down like a sack of bricks. I looked to the two remaining guards. The rest lay at our feet, dead. “For his protection,” I said. “Where did the wolf go?”

The guards exchanged a look.

“You don’t have to be afraid of me,” I said wearily. “I won’t hurt you.” I looked down at Dorana’s body and felt something clench inside me. I felt like I might throw up again, but it passed after a moment.

“It…when you left us…the wolf just ran off,” said the guard closest to me.

“It didn’t attack you?” I said, frowning.

The two shook their heads.

“Did you get a weird feeling about that thing?” I said.

“What do you mean?” said the guard who had been quiet until now. “I’ve never seen anything like it, if that’s what you mean. There has never been such a beast in Erebos.”

“Could it be another monster?” said the first guard. “Like the one that attacked the city?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “It was like it was protecting us.”

The two demons stared at me like I’d said something crazy. Maybe I had. But the wolf was odd. I felt as though I’d seen it before, though I couldn’t imagine how that could be true.

“I have a job for you two,” I said. I nodded to Gage’s sleeping body. “I need you to take my friend back to the city. Do you understand? He'll wake in a few hours.”

They nodded, looking toward Erebos. The second guard looked decidedly relieved.

“What about you, miss?” said the first guard.

“What about me?”

“What will you do?” he said. “You can’t go out there on your own.”

“Can’t I?” I said. “Don’t worry, I have a plan. Not a very good one, but you can’t have everything, can you?”

“I don’t know, miss,” said the guard.

I sighed. “Never mind. Just take Bobby back. I’ll be fine.”

“If Lucifer comes back, he will be very upset if anything happens to you.”

“What do you mean
if
?” I said.
 

The guard shifted uncomfortably.

“I’m going to bring him back,” I said. “And when I do, you will be rewarded. I don’t have time to argue. Just go.”

I watched them carry Gage, a hulking arm over each of their sizable demon shoulders, Bobby’s feet dragging along the red dirt at the toes. When I couldn’t see them any more, I turned and looked down at Sheol. I could still hear the whispers, and I frowned, the heat in my guts feeling like it was going to burn right through my skin.
 

“I need you,” I muttered to the air. “Lucifer, you’d better not goddamn die. I won’t let you.”

I turned, fixing in my mind the image that my mother’s ghost had shown me. Hopefully it hadn’t been just a regular dream. Who knew where I’d end up if it wasn’t real. There was a sound nearby and I strained my eyes to see in the dim light. A shape moved toward me and I froze.

The wolf was as tall as my shoulder. The shaggy fur made it look bigger than it was. It walked slowly toward me, wary. It had its head down and ears raised. I felt my heart speed up as a jolt of fear went through me. But just as I braced myself to fight, the beast lowered its head even farther, almost to the ground. It laid down and something like a whine came from it. I took a shaky step forward and the beast pulled itself toward me and set its great head on my feet. It was warm and alive and I felt a shock of recognition.

I crouched down and set my hand on its head. The wolf didn’t move, just kept lying at my feet.

“What are you?” I whispered. I ran my hand through its thick, matted fur. There was something so odd about the creature. “Why are you helping me?”

As if in reply the wolf raised his head and looked at me. I frowned at the glimmer of its eyes. I felt a shiver go up my spine. I caught my breath. With a shaking hand I reached out and lifted the fur that partially covered his eyes.
 

“Oh my god,” I breathed. I couldn’t stop looking into those eyes. So dark with no whites. Shapes seemed to move behind the black like storm clouds at night. I pulled my hand away and stumbled back. “It can’t be,” I whispered. “Jesus, it can’t be.”

The wolf was watching me and growled a low growl. Not a dangerous growl, though. Not the way he’d growled at Eli when I was in danger. I stared at him.

“What the hell is happening?” I said. “This isn’t possible.”

The wolf looked away, as if ashamed. It gave a soft whine and put its big head on his paws. I was sure now. I knew what it was that I’d found familiar.

“I’ve been looking for you for such a long time,” I said, “Lucifer.”

* * *
 

“So…you’re a wolf now,” I said, sitting across from the giant beast that used to be my boyfriend. He didn’t move, just stared at me, barely blinking. I didn’t know if he had his mind intact, or if his mind had been taken as well. It seemed there was something of Lucifer intact. I looked away, sniffing.
 

“Did the Grace do this to you?” I said, looking back. The wolf just kept up his steady stare. “Goddammit,” I said. “You should have told me. You should have let me come.”

The wolf growled.

“Whatever,” I said.

I couldn’t leave him. Not again. Especially not like this. I would find a way to change him back. I had to. I stood and the wolf stood with me. My plan was to travel between the worlds with him, envisioning the destination and taking him with me, just as I had done with Bobby Gage. But I wasn't sure that would work. He was too big and I was afraid he’d forget who he was and bite me. I sighed.

“Well, I guess we’d better get going,” I said. Lucifer padded along with me across the dry, hot plain.

* * *
 

I didn’t eat or drink much any more, but took Eli’s pack anyway. After a few hours of walking, I was starting to get blisters on my feet and there was dust in my throat. We stopped and I pulled off my boots and drank some water. I poured a stream for Lucifer to lap up.

Lucifer. It was hard to wrap my mind around that. I eyed the big animal and a searing pain flared up inside me. I was going to make those witches pay. They were playing a game with me, and I hated games.

What does Death fear?

Why did they care? What was it about me that figured into their game? It could be something regarding their deaths, or lack thereof. It might involve the Creator, or my father Pineme. I wished Ash were here to give me sage advice. I felt stupid trying to understand all this stuff.
 

I looked at the wolf. I could see his Lucifer-eyes, and it made my chest hurt.

“I don’t know if you understand me,” I said. “But I wanted to say it, you know. I wanted to tell you. I’m drowning for you, too. You probably don’t know what that means, even if you know what I’m saying, but it’s true. I can’t do it without you, Lucifer. Any of it. Taking the souls. Surviving. Being alive. Any of it. I don’t want any of it without you. So I’m going to bring you back. I know you told me not to, if that really was you in my dream, but I don’t give a damn. You understand that? It’s not up to you anymore. I’m saving you because I’m goddamn selfish, and a world without you isn’t worth it for me. It’s
nothing.
Like a body without a soul. It may as well crumble into dust.” I swallowed thickly. The animal hadn’t looked away from me. “It’s always been you, Lucifer. Even before it was you. That doesn’t make sense, but it’s true.” I looked down into my lap. “I’m not going to let you go.” I looked into the beast’s eyes again and when I spoke once more, my words were like steel. “I won’t ever let you go. Never. And if you don’t believe that, then you don’t know me at all.”
 

The ground shivered and the wolf’s ears pricked up, the hackles raising off his back. I stood, looking around. The wolf lowered his head and growled, looking to the right, toward the direction we’d been headed. I squinted and the ground shook even more, nearly throwing me off my feet. I felt the fire inside me flare up and I caught my breath at the pain. I smelled something sharp in the air. Sulfur. Just like back at Matthew’s house when I’d taken his mother’s soul.
 

A black shape burst open a little way from us. I could feel the aching chill of it from twenty feet away. A black spot hovered in the air like a blossom sprouting on a tree. It began to vibrate, slowly at first and then so fast that the edges became a blur. With an inaudible boom that made my gut tremble and my ears want to pop, the black blossom exploded out, raining bright sparks like stardust onto the dull landscape. The hole continued to expand until it was as tall as a man and just as wide. It throbbed and shook as if the very fabric of reality was fighting against this breach. Something moved inside the darkness of it. A foot with a dirty sneaker. A leg encased in ripped-up jeans. A spindly arm, bruised and battered, grabbed the edge of the shaking hole in the world, pulling a body through. And finally I saw the face of Matthew, his eye blackened, his lip split and scabbed over, fingernail scratches clawed into his neck. His hair was mussed and matted with sweat and dirt, and there were dirty streaks on his face.
 

He stepped down onto the ground and faced me. He met my eyes and for a moment it was just the two of us in the world. Then he shook his head and hunched his shoulders.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

Lucifer snarled as a blur of dark shapes whipped out of the hole around Matthew, making him stagger. They moved quickly out across the plain, and then moved in, surrounding Lucifer and me, taking form in a circle around us, becoming women, draped in black silk, hair flowing around them, rustling in the dry breeze. The last to fill in the gap was taller than the others, her chest and hips wider, her eyes darker and more penetrating. It was the one I had seen in Matthew’s drawing. Lucifer moved to stand in front of me as if to protect me.

Behind the woman, the hole closed with a crack and there was a muffled groan as Matthew collapsed to the ground.

“He will be fine,” said the tall woman, staring into me with her angel eyes. “The poor thing. His efforts really take it out of him. We will wake him when we need him again.”

“That’s stolen power you’re using,” I said.

She shrugged. “It was a gift. Just like yours. Stolen like yours.”

“Mine wasn't stolen. A gift from who?

“You’ll see,” she said, smiling, practically echoing the words of the Creator. “Very, very soon.” Her eyes slid up and down the length of me. “You don’t know what we have done in order to bring you here. But I must say, it was worth it.” Her eyes fell on Lucifer. “And the poor, dear king of the land. Once the favorite of a god, now reduced to a Hell-hound. Such tragedy.”

“You did this?” I said.
 

“Well, to be fair, we were sure he would bring you along. You were always the one we sought.” She gazed at me admiringly. “Mistress Death. Reaper of Souls. Niki Slobodian. So many titles I’ve heard for you, whispered behind shaking hands. And those are only the nice ones.”

“I’m not very good at making friends,” I said. I glanced around at the other women. They had their eyes closed, their lips moving in a chant. “What are they doing?”

“Hobbling you,” she said, smiling again. “We have great plans for you. And the power you contain.” She looked thoughtful. “You are correct, though. Your power is not so much stolen as borrowed.”

I flinched as I realized what she’d been doing. I hadn’t even registered when it had happened, but the flame that had been burning me from inside was gone. I couldn’t feel it at all. I put my hand to my head, dizzy. Lucifer barked a mighty bark, so deep and loud that it shook the ground. He kept moving forward, then back again, as if afraid to leave my side for an instant.

“Why are you doing this?” I said. “
How
are you doing this? You only have the archangels’ power. I have the Creator’s.”

“So many questions,” the tall witch clucked. “You’ll have answers for all of them. In time. Perhaps if you’d learned to use your power instead of fretting over a man, you would have had a chance. Such a gift you have, even without your damned Creator. And yet you spend your days as the devil’s whore. Pitiful.”

Lucifer’s growl became louder. He bared long, sharp teeth.

“Wake him,” said the witch to the woman next to her, who stopped chanting and immediately turned and strode over to Matthew. She struck him hard across the face, making me flinch. Matthew woke with a whimper and tried to push himself away from the woman, who simply turned, rejoined the circle, and started chanting again.
 

“Boy!” said the woman in front of me, without taking her eyes off me. “Take us back.”

“Leda, I can’t. I’m so tired.”

The witch, Leda, smiled and clenched her fist in front of her. Matthew screamed, tears streaming down his dirty, bruised face.

“Stop it,” I said through clenched teeth. I tried to feel for the fire in me again, but I couldn’t grasp it. “Leave him alone.”

“He’s just another man,” said Leda. “Give him time and he will bring you down, just like every other man.”